Kids in Europe justify piracy: “Papa pirates, so I do, too”

New survey results provided by the European Commission show that children …

"Everybody's doing it!" That's one excuse provided by European kids as to why they pirate media or software from the Internet, according to new survey results from the European Commission. The qualitative survey consisted of 9-10 year olds and 12-14 year olds across all 27 of the European Union's member states (plus Norway and Iceland) and was meant to gauge how children in Europe use online technologies. And while most of them are aware that downloading things like music, movies, and video games is illegal, they're more than willing to justify it.

The survey found that the older group of children was more likely to participate in piracy and that boys were more likely to do it than girls. For the most part, the kids can clearly identify when what they are doing is illegal, but they are armed with a plethora of excuses as to why they continue to do it. One of the first reasons cited in the paper is that "everyone" is doing it—including their parents. This, according to the EC, constitutes an "implicit form of authorisation" in the eyes of the children.

Other excuses provided are that downloading for private use is more excusable than pirating for resale, CDs and DVDs are too expensive, and that actors and singers don't need any more money. Boys in Denmark acknowledge that piracy is illegal, "but it does not look like it is illegal"—a sentiment echoed by French boys as well when they explain that if the media was truly illegal, it wouldn't be on the Internet. Boys in Portugal argue, "We pay because we are spending megabits!"

"At the end of the day, the risk of downloading a virus seems to be more dissuasive than the risk of legal proceedings," says the EC.

Speaking of viruses, European kids do seem to be well aware of the risks of using the Internet and take the appropriate precautions to protect against them. Viruses are the most obvious and were spontaneously mentioned by the kids surveyed "because it hampers their use [of the Internet] and can damage the hardware or software." They understand that viruses can be contracted through unidentified e-mails, web sites, and downloads, and that they should also be aware of the threat of hacks as well. "The hackers are a danger, they may spread viruses that destroy the hard disk or copy all that we have in the computer, passwords, documents, etc." said a group of boys from Portugal. The report noted that antivirus software is popular among the children surveyed, as long as it's regularly updated.

Overall, those surveyed were aware that while their parents may impose annoying rules on their Internet or computer use, they are usually for their own good. Kids surveyed acknowledged that they are not supposed to go to adult web sites (although, naturally, some of them admit to disobeying this rule from time to time), they're to avoid violent web sites or games, be careful about viruses, and avoid giving out personal or identifying information. But as the EC points out, most of the children state that they plan to continue downloading—something that their parents may have a difficult time convincing them to stop doing unless they provide a good example themselves.